Investment cost

If the delivered equipment costs (main items like reactors, heat exchangers, compressors, distillation columns. . .) are known, the total capital costs, which include additional direct and indirect costs for the erection, piping, engineering, and so on, can be estimated by the factors given in Table 5.5.1. 

For a quick estimation of the total capital investment the overall factor method developed by Lang (1948) is helpftil. The costs of each piece of equipment is estimated and summed and, finally, multiplied with the overall factor. Typically, the total costs are four times higher than the main items (Table 5.5.1). Values of this overall factor given in the literature vary in the range 3-6. According to Lang (1948), 

The investment costs of a plant for the production of fuel and chemicals vary from 2 million for small plants of 10 000 tonnes annual capacity up to 20 billion for reflneries with a capacity of about 10 million tonnes (Lange, 2001 see reports published in the European Chemical News and the Oil and Gas Journal). Thus a 100-fold increase in investment is needed for a 1000-fold increase in capacity. The classical cost scaling rule is given by 

Accommodating the heat of reaction requires equipment and costs. For example, exothermic reactions are often controlled by water cooling loops that withdraw the heat of reaction by boiling water at the wall of the reactor or in the effluent cooler. 

-L O2 CO2 + 2H2O o-Xylene + 3O2 — phthalic anhydride + 3H2O CO + 2H2 — -CH2- -L H2O Fischer-Tropsch synthesis) C2H4 + O.5O2 — ethylene oxide -L 3H2 — cyclohexane CHjOH + NHj CHjNH2 + H2O -Butane — i-butane 

Three types of acid plants were described in earlier chapters  

The investment costs in this chapter focus on sulfur burning and metallurgical type acid plants. Costs for spent acid regeneration acid plants are expected to be slightly higher than sulfur burning acid plants due to their increased furnace complexity and additional gas cleaning equipment. 

Investment costs for new sulfur burning acid plants are shown in Fig. 31.2. The figure provides an expected range of costs based on the acid plant s daily acid production 

Cost estimates are for a 3 1 double contact type acid plant constructed of modem materials (mostly stainless steel) with a steam turbine generator for producing electrical energy. The acid plant is constructed on a new site with little or no existing infrastructure. Sulfur is purchased and received at site in solid form. Hot acid heat recovery systems such as MECS s HRS and Outotec s HEROS are not included. 

Sulfuric acid plant investment costs vary considerably with  

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The urea produced is normally either prilled or granulated. In some countries there is a market for Hquid urea—ammonium nitrate solutions (32% N). In this case, a partial-recycle stripping process is the best and cheapest system. The unconverted NH coming from the stripped urea solution and the reactor off-gas is neutralized with nitric acid. The ammonium nitrate solution formed and the urea solution from the stripper bottom are mixed, resulting in a 32—35 wt % solution. This system drastically reduces investment costs as evaporation, finishing (priQ or granulation), and wastewater treatment are not required. 

Because of the highly corrosive nature of the nitric acid streams, adipic acid plants are constmcted of stainless steel, or titanium in the more corrosive areas, and thus have high investment costs. 

Investment, Costs, and Prices for Barley and Malt. Estimated malthouse investment (1993) and costs for a new malthouse with annual capacity of 120,000 t are shown in Table 2. This malthouse is equipped with twelve 1,700-bushel steep tanks, eight 10,000-bushel germination compartments, and two double-deck kilns. The kilns are equipped with standard heat recovery units and indirect heat. 

The choice of a specific CO2 removal system depends on the overall ammonia plant design and process integration. Important considerations include CO2 sHp required, CO2 partial pressure in the synthesis gas, presence or lack of sulfur, process energy demands, investment cost, availabiUty of solvent, and CO2 recovery requirements. Carbon dioxide is normally recovered for use in the manufacture of urea, in the carbonated beverage industry, or for enhanced oil recovery by miscible flooding. 

Process Instrumentation and Control Systems. Investment for instmmentation and control systems and their installation typically range between 3 to 10% of the total installed cost for a grassroots continuous process faciUty. Instmmentation and control systems also represent a substantial percentage of the overall faciUty maintenance (qv) costs. Investment costs may be placed in one of two categories, ie, nondiscretionary and discretionary. 

Ferroelectric Thin-Film Devices. Since 1989, the study of ferroelectric thin films has been an area of increasing growth. The compositions studied most extensively are in the PZT/PLZT family, although BaTiO, KNbO, and relaxor ferroelectric materials, such as PMN and PZN, have also been investigated. Solution deposition is the most frequentiy utilized fabrication process, because of the lower initial capital investment cost, ease of film fabrication, and the excellent dielectric and ferroelectric properties that result. 

Dense phase systems are at cost disadvantage when multiple feed points are required, or when incremental compressed air for conveying is not available from existing sources. In the latter instance, the entire investment cost of an air compressor and associated auxiUaries must be allocated to the cost of the conveying system. 

Shorter cycle times produce smaller bed sizes. The minimum cycle time is usually dictated by the minimum regeneration time required to heat and cool the bed. Systems of greater than two beds provide some flexibiUty in regeneration time but add to investment costs. 

The three general types of cost estimates needed are equipment cost, capital investment cost, and product cost. Equipment cost estimates are needed as part of the capital investment estimate, which indicates the amount of money that is needed to start the venture. Both of these estimates are reflected in the product cost estimate, which is important to both management and marketing groups. 

Capital Investment Cost. The capital investment involved in a proposed project is important because it represents the money that must be raised to get the project started, is used in profitabiUty forecasts, and is reflected in the estimated manufacturing cost of a product. The capital investment is classified herein as fixed capital, working capital, and land cost. Sample capital investment estimate forms provide for separate materials (M) and labor (L) categories, or just combined M L figures. 

Most large electrochemical processing faciHties are located where raw materials, including electric power, are readily available at reasonable costs. Other factors influencing the location of electrochemical plants are proximity to markets, estabHshed transportation faciHties, availabiHty of water, and a source of labor. Large electrochemical plants are capital intensive, requiring large capital investment cost per employee. 

Instead of gas turbine exhaust, air preheat has been used in some plants to reduce fuel consumption. Flue gas leaving the furnace stack passes through an air preheater, and the preheated air is suppHed to the burners. By using mostly hearth burners, the duct work and the investment cost can be minimised with air preheat and gas turbine exhaust. It is also possible with 100% waH-fired furnaces, and has been proven in commercial operation (34). 

Powder Insulation A method of reahzing some of the benefits of multiple floating shields without incurring the difficulties of awkward structural complexities is to use evacuated powder insulation. The penalty incurred in the use of this type of insulation, however, is a tenfold reduction in the overall thermal effectiveness of the insulation system over that obtained for multilayer insulation. In applications where this is not a serious factor, such as LNG storage facihties, and investment cost is of major concern, even unevacuated powder-insulation systems have found useful apphcations. The variation in apparent mean thermal conductivity of several powders as a function of interstitial gas pressure is shown in the familiar S-shaped curves of Fig. 11-121. ... 

An appropriate procedure for executing the design of an absorber-stripper system is to set up a carefully selected series of design cases and then evaluate the investment costs, the operating costs, and the operability of each case. Some of the economic factors that need to be considered in selec ting the optimum absorber-stripper design are discussed later in the subsec tion Economic Design of Absorption Systems. ... 

A wide variety of size-reduction equipment is available. The chief reasons for lack of standardization are the variety of products to be ground and product quahties demanded, the limited amount of useful grinding theory, and the requirements by different industries in the economic balance between investment cost and operating cost. Some differences exist for the sake of difference sometimes similarities are advertised as differences [Rumpf, Chem. Jng. Tech., 37(3), 187-202 (1965)]. 

Automatic weighing has largely replaced manual weighing in the chemical-process industries because of the advent of larger-capacity processes and the need to economize on labor. Also, the dependability of weighing equipment has increased markedly, and investment cost has decreasea. Both batch and continuous weighing are used. 

A particular advantage of impressed current systems is the ability to control the output voltage of the rectifier. Also, there are the comparatively low installation costs and relatively uniform current distribution. The costs of impressed current protection compared with aluminum anodes are 0.8 1. With ships this ratio depends on the length of the ship with larger ships it is 1 2.5 since the calculation is made in comparison with zinc and aluminum anodes. The order of magnitude of the annual costs depends on the structure and the investment costs. 

Product concentration influences the separation cost and the cost of recycling unconverted reactants. Production rate has a strong effect on investment cost for the full synthesis loop. Selectivity sets the raw material... 

The investment cost required with minimal emphasis on pollution control... 

Figure 12-11. Gas turbine fuel treatment plant investment costs. (Courtesy of General Electric Company.)...

Experience with inherent safety reviews indicates that project investment costs are frequently reduced as a result of this exercise. Eliminating equipment and reducing the need for safety critical instrumentation are typically the main contributors to investment reduction. Capturing these potential savings depends greatly on the timing of the reviews. 

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